A pharmacist prepares to administer a Covid-19 vaccine booster shot during an event hosted by the Chicago Department of Public Health at Southwest Senior Center on September 9, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois.
Scott Olson | Getty Images
New Covid vaccines Pfizer, Modern and Novavax likely to provide protection against the new “Eris” variant, the dominant strain of the virus in the United States
Drugmakers have designed their updated vaccines to target the XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant, which is slowly declining nationwide. But health experts and preliminary data indicate that the new shots will still be effective against Eris or EG.5 and other widely available variants – all of which are descendants of the omicron.
“I think these vaccines will provide very significant protection against EG.5. There may be some loss, but I’m not too concerned about that,” said Dr. Mark Mulligan said. CNBC. “Looks like we’ll be fine.”
All three companies are still waiting for the Food and Drug Administration to approve their vaccines, meaning these plugs won’t be available to the public for another month or more. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must also decide which Americans should be vaccinated and how often.
Still, the approach of those vaccines offers some reassurance to Americans, as Eris and other Covid variants are causing a slight increase in cases and hospitalizations across the country, but remain below the summer peak that strained hospitals this time last year.
Eris accounted for 17.3% of all cases in the United States as of earlier this month, according to the CDC’s latest data. The new strain surpassed XBB.1.5, which accounted for about 10% of all cases.
The World Health Organization earlier this month designated Eris as a “variant of interest,” meaning it will be monitored for mutations that could potentially make it more severe.
But the health agency and experts said Eris does not pose a significant threat, or at least no more so than any of the other omicron variants currently circulating in the United States. in previous years.
Why are strikes effective against Eris?
The new vaccines are likely to provide protection against Eris because the strain has a very similar genetic makeup to XBB.1.5.
The main difference is that Eris carries an additional amino acid mutation that may slightly increase the strain’s ability to evade immunity from previous infection or vaccination.
“It’s not like when we had the alpha, beta, delta and omicron variants coming out and they were significantly different from each other,” said Dr. Nicole Iovine, chief hospital epidemiologist and infectious disease physician at the University of Florida. “These are all omicron variants, so they are more similar to each other. I think this vaccine is actually going to be quite effective because of that.”
A nurse administers a booster shot at a Covid-19 vaccination clinic on April 06, 2022 in San Rafael, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
This is confirmed by new data from three companies.
On Thursday, Moderna said its renewed landing provided a “significant boost” in a clinical trial of Eris and another protective antibody against the rapidly spreading virus, called “Fornax,” or FL 1.5.1. Because the test results are preliminary, the company did not provide specific information on antibody levels.
But Moderna president Stephen Hoge said in a statement that the results “reflect the ability of our updated vaccine to address emerging Covid-19 threats.”
A Pfizer spokeswoman told CNBC on Thursday that the company’s shot “effectively neutralized” a number of omicron variants, including Eris and XBB.1.5, in a recent study in mice. According to the spokesperson, the company plans to publish the full results of the study in a research publication.
A Novavax spokesperson also told CNBC that the updated Covid vaccine will work against Eris given its similarity to the XBB.1.5 strain.
“We are now running tests to demonstrate this,” the spokesperson said.
Do you have to wait for new shots?
As Eris gains a stronger foothold in the U.S., some Americans may question whether they should buy one of the currently available Covid boosters instead of waiting for the new shots to arrive.
Some experts say it depends on individual conditions and risk levels, so patients should talk to their doctors.
People who are unvaccinated or immunocompromised and haven’t received the current boosters could potentially consider getting them now, Mulligan said. These patients are at higher risk of severe illness from Covid.
But he added that most people, especially healthy patients, can probably wait for the new vaccines.
Eris is not expected to infect significant numbers of Americans until the shots are released. “Some of us may be affected, but I don’t expect to see a big surge in the short term between now and the next month or two,” Mulligan said.
Dr., head of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Health. According to Dean Blumberg, currently available boosters may not offer much protection against Eris either, as the variant is “far removed” from the omicron BA.5. The enhancers target BA.5, BA.4 and the original Covid strain.
“It probably won’t be very helpful, and we expect updated vaccines to be available in about a month,” Blumberg said. “So I’ll wait for it and get it as soon as it’s available.”
Given widespread vaccine fatigue, it’s still unclear how many Americans will get the new Covid shots.